Kerala - Alappuzha   

A conspiracy, says Sudhakaran

ALAPPUZHA: Coir and Cooperation Minister G. Sudhakaran has said that Sunday’s road blockade by farmers was part of a conspiracy hatched by the United Democratic Front and the Bharatiya Janata Party to disrupt the farmers’ meeting convened by the District Collector.

In a statement, the Minister said the UDF and the BJP were unable to digest the good work done by the State Government and that the protests and blockades were being masterminded by these parties to upset the farmers.

Their intention was to turn the farmers against the Government by further delaying the harvest.

There were some who shouted slogans demanding the police to “repeat the Nandigram model and shoot them dead”. Such slogans could come only from political interests, he said, adding that the Government had received information on how some vested interests were trying to delay the harvest by threatening harvest machine owners in other States.

As a result of the efforts by the district administration and the Government, 24 combine harvesters from Chennai were loaded onto trucks to bring them to Kuttanad.

However, the machine owners backed out at the last moment because these vested interests had telephoned them and warned them that sending the machines would end up in losses for them.

The UDF leaders, instead of encouraging such interests, should take the lead and help the farmers and the Government in speeding up the harvest, he said.

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